Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - Wednesday October 15, 2003
Bart Crols
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, told a BBC television program last week that if condoms cannot be guaranteed to block sperm, they stand even less chance with the much smaller virus.
"I deplore that comment the way it was received," Cardinal Godfried Danneels, 70, told a news conference at his residence in the town of Mechelen, near the Belgian capital.
"It does not befit a cardinal to deal with the virtue of a product ... I don't know if what he said is reliable," he said, adding that a cardinal should instead raise the ethical, religious and spiritual dimensions of the AIDS issue.
Vatican observers say Danneels, archbishop of the Brussels-Mechelen region, is probably too liberal to be chosen as the next pontiff by the Church's College of Cardinals, which elects a successor from among its own ranks after a pope dies.
Cardinals are gathering in Rome this week to celebrate the 25th anniversary of John Paul's pontificate.
Danneels said he does not expect a "pre-conclave," or formal discussions in Rome, on the succession issue.
"I go to Rome to celebrate the pope," he said.
The Belgian church leader said the pope's successor should possess "a large part of the qualities of John Paul II" and be able to promptly address a number of issues which will surface in the coming years, such as biotechnology.
A senior European cardinal said two weeks ago John Paul was nearing his death, fueling debate over the health of the 83-year-old pope.
Danneels said he did not think the pope's death was imminent: "I don't think he'll die tomorrow. I am convinced of that."
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